The yearly blog post :)

If it feels like I have abandoned my blog it is because I have. Unfortunately I find the convenience of leaving one liner updates on facebook all to perfect for my lifestyle.

Here is what we've got...
We are 15 days away from welcoming our little boy Joseph Francis MacGregor IV into the world. Still welcoming nicknames, but it looks like Quad may be the one. I feel like this pregnancy has flown by. With just over 2 weeks remaining I find myself completely un-miserable (most likely due to the cool monsoon weather we have had) and just enjoying every moment. Funny how easy it is to forget how it feels. I swear I have amnesia just from this pregnancy and Ellies. My favorite thing is the kicking. He has gotten what I would call a little violent lately, which is why I am up a little earlier than expected this morning :). It cracks me up when I am at work and I can just feel him kicking the desk. I try to scoot back in my chair, but honestly.... I can only reach so far over this HUGE belly to do my work.

A lot is different with this pregnancy too. Planning a C-section is... interesting. For example I have been able to tell people we are going in September 9th at 7:30, so by 8:00 we should have a new member of the family. A little odd, but it definitely takes the guess work out. I'm sure most would prefer to be surprised, but if I am going to be completely honest I can say I prefer knowing. Wierd as it is Joey and I are planners that way. I guess we still have 2 weeks to go, but I have not had NEAR as much swelling with this one. With Ellie it got so bad I didn't have ankles for the last little bit there. I didn't realize how much I liked the shape of my legs until I had to deal with kankles. Can't say I miss that little symptom. I definitely carry more up front than I did with Ellie too. Don't get me wrong... people could still make wide load jokes as I pass by.... but it is just more forward with JFM4. I do have a bit of "dazing" with him. Mostly while driving. It is this strange feeling where I'm not really focused, and I don't feel.... awake. Trying to stay aware of that little item so we don't.... "run into" any problems. Overall I am feeling pretty prepared, but I know to expect the unexpected. The to do list never ends, so I have stopped stressing about getting "everything" done before he gets here and have settled with doing what we I can before he gets here.

Ellie is doing fabulous. We just celebrated her 2nd birthday and I can't believe how grown up she is. She makes us laugh every day. Her obsession with her glittery pink shoes and jewelry is one of the funniest things ever. I honestly expected her to by a tom boy... which i supposed may come later in life, but make no mistake.... Ellie is as girlie as they get. We actually threw away the old pair of glittery pink shoes (due to the wretched stench) a few weeks back. There were tears and arguments about them being missing just about every morning, but Grammy had gotten her a duplicate pair in a larger size that we had planned on saving for her birthday. The box sat on the table for a good 2 months without being acknowledged in any way. A few days before her Birthday Ellie decides to sit at the table and discover what was in the box. Grammy and I were in the kitchen, and Daddy just happened to watch what was going on. She opens the box of glittery pink shoes and with her most sincere and emotional tone says "oh my goodness.... oh my"! With tears of joy in her eyes she pulled out the shoes and clutched them to her chest. We couldn't take them from her at that point, so I had to explain that they were a birthday present and that she needed to tell Grammy thank you. It has been almost 2 weeks now since she got the new shoes and I can tell you they look worse than the original pair. Almost all the glitter is worn off and that "familiar smell" is starting to lurk around the pink shoes. Not sure what we are going to do about that one.

Another funny Ellie moment happened just the other day. She is equally obsessed with cats. All cats. The neighbor cat Sammy mostly. She searches for him every time we get out of the truck and insists on going to visit him if she is lucky enough to spot him before Mama corrals her into the house. So... for her Birthday we took her and her "birthday tickets" (gift card from grandma hill) to pick out a present at WalMart. To be honest we haven't been big on toys so we really didn't know what kind of things she would be in to. So we walk down the toy aisle and let her browse and play to see what she likes. Finally we came to this fluffy white cat with bright blue eyes. It took no time at all for Ellie to fall in love. I pushed the button on her back and she began to walk and meow. Ellie had to hold it in the cart for the rest of the trip and kept laying her head down on her fur and saying awwwwww kitty. First Ellie named her gato, but has now changed it to blanca gato. Did I mention Ellie is learning Spanish? Anyway, so blanca is our new house cat. I was doing some laundry in the other day and I heard Ellie "talking" with a very authoritive tone. I snuck in to the front room to see what she was up to. There she was scolding blanca pointed finger and all. I said Ellie what is going on? "Nuffing" she says. Really.... it sounded like you were yelling. "Yeah" she says with that Ellie enthusiasm. Why were you yelling? "Blanca gato kicking" she says with a disapproving look on her face. She was kicking you? "Yeah" she says again with her spunky little voice. Apparently they way Ellie was holding blanca she kept pushing the walk button which in return made blanca "kick" her. I thought I was going to die. No shortage of emotion with little miss Ellie. Her facial expressions are ridiculous! My biggest challenge is not laughing at some of the things she comes up with. She is doing awesome with the my baby can read stuff. I swear she can read all of green eggs and ham :). She also is doing pretty great with the spanish. It's like she just craves more and more. I would recommend that program to any parent. It's like an exercise video... if you don't watch it you can't benefit from it. Ellie asks to watch one of her reading or spanish videos at least once a day. I am seriously shocked at what she has learned from it. Just had to throw that in there. Seriously LOVE it!

As for Mr. MacGregor. Did I mention he got a new job? Well same company, but he is now a Sales Rep for RSC. He loves it! I think the variety has just been really nice for him. It's funny to see how much he has already grown. Pretty sure he is going to do great! It will take a little time to adjust, but already he is just loving it! He is really up to the same old thing. Working, hunting and hanging out with the family. Got another deer just last Saturday ( I know....we are all surprised). :) He seems to be doing pretty well in the way of being prepared for a second child. He shares my anxiety on the whole how are we going to handle 2 and will Ellie be jealous thing. We are just planning to work through it and hope all goes well.

Well that is pretty much it for now. I had bettered get going and get started on my to do list for the day. Canning deer is on the agenda. I know it sounds super gross, but it is actually awesome! It takes out the game flavor and makes really great meat. It also takes up a lot less freezer room. Joeys mom and I have gotten pretty adventurous with the canning since we started the garden. We have already done a batch of pickles, working on bread and butter pickles, and are planning to do salsa, whole tomatoes, apples, and whatever else we can come up with :). If you have any good canning recipes please send them my way :)

Love you all and will post soon. Ahh... who am I kidding. Will post when I can :)